The Fertile-Beltrami School Board voted last night to co-op with Crookston in boy’s hockey, becoming the second school to join Crookston this spring following Sacred Heart. The addition of the two schools will help add depth to the lineup as just 21 players went out for varsity and junior varsity hockey this past season.
Fertile-Beltrami Superintendent Brian Clarke said the school board had a choice to co-op with either Crookston or Red Lake Falls. “Couple of months here of gathering information from both Red Lake Falls and the Crookston program the board took action last night and approved the co-op for the next couple of years for boy’s hockey,” said Clarke. “I think everybody is pretty excited about that and looking forward to the opportunity for our kids to continue to play hockey up in the Crookston program.”
Crookston Activities Director Greg Garmen said the co-ops should help with numbers in boy’s hockey. “That should help,” said Garmen. “When looking at hockey numbers on the boy’s side, it’s been going down, and we need bodies. It’s a numbers game, as with pretty much everything we have going on right now. We approached Fertile, and Sacred Heart approached us initially. We got thinking about it and decided let’s do it. Sacred Heart was first to jump on board, and then, we were waiting on Fertile to have their information out to their people and have their board meeting. They did that last night, and it sounds like they approved it. I know they were thinking Red Lake Falls or Crookston, and they had to sort that out over at Fertile. It sounds like they did, and they’re coming our way. So, that will certainly help to get a couple of kids from each school to help our numbers, and that’s what we were hoping to achieve with it.”
Crookston Boys Hockey Coach Josh Hardy said he’s looking forward to working with students from both schools who joined the co-op. “We’re excited,” said Hardy. “Fertile has a longstanding relationship with our youth program, so most of these kids have been playing with our kids all the way up. We’re excited they’ll be able to do that. Sacred Heart, we’re excited to hopefully get some new players from over there, expanding our relationships with the area communities. I think it’s only going to benefit our program and hopefully make us a little bit more competitive here in the next couple of years. I’m looking forward to working with both schools and continuing our already established relationships with them.”
Garmen said the number of new players in the program for next year likely wouldn’t be known until the season begins. “I don’t think we do at this point,” said Garmen. “Really until you get to day one, you’re not really going to know. I would imagine a handful we’re hoping. One thing, even though our board, Sacred Heart, and Fertile approved it, the High School League has to approve it yet, so it’s not a done deal. It’s just a matter of getting some paperwork from Fertile, I have Sacred Heart’s, and once we get that all together, we’ll send it down to the High School League, and they’ll make a ruling on it. I would think they would approve it. It’s not totally official yet other than the school board’s involved have decided to enter into a co-op with Crookston, Sacred Heart, and Fertile for boys hockey.”
Garmen said all three schools are further ahead of the game with co-oping than many schools, so he anticipates having an official approval well before the season begins. “Usually, people are waiting right to the last minute to do these,” said Garmen. “You have to have it in at least 30 days before the season begins. We have months yet, so we’re in good shape in terms of a timeframe. Once I get the Fertile paperwork, we’ll send it down to the High School League and wait for the official response, then start planning.”
Clarke said there are at least three athletes in Fertile hoping to continue playing hockey at the high school level. “Right now, we have three athletes that have been part of the Crookston youth program,” said Clarke. “They are in age from 7th-8th grade and looking forward to the next steps in their hockey careers. So, yeah, we’ve got the three athletes that are primed and ready to roll and excited about the opportunity.”
Clark thanked Superintendent Olson, Coach Hardy, and the Crookston School Board for providing information that helped Fertile decide where to co-op. “I really want to send thanks to Superintendent Jeremy Olson,” said Clarke. “I know the board too. I think they were very good about providing information down to our school board members. Actually, Coach (Hardy) and Superintendent Olson came down to one of our informational meetings and provided an opportunity to answer questions. I thought that was very appreciative. So, again, we’re looking forward to the partnership, and a big thanks goes out to the Crookston district.”
